While digging to prepare for the Crossrail 73-mile high-speed rail link connecting 37 stations across London, more skeletons have been unearthed. Forensic tests indicate these are Black Death victims from the great pandemic of the 14th Century from graves dated to 1348-50. Their teeth contain DNA from the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis. By sequencing the ancient bacterial DNA, researchers hope to understand how the plague has evolved and spread over the centuries.

Obelisk - Robe, South Australia

I'm fascinated to learn about the past, so I eagerly snatched this story reported on BBC News. My forebears lived in England, although I was born in Australia and spent the years when my children were growing up in Robe, South Australia. Therefore, England's history relates to me. I could transport myself back in time and find out about their daily lives by studying the past. Records say thousands of Londoners perished during this short period. Their corpses show malnutrition and back injuries, which show times were hard and they would have been susceptible to illness. The bodies, many originating from the north, were dumped in a mass grave outside the City, but its exact location was unknown.

Most of my forbears lived in Cornwall, that tiny boot on the tip of the western coast. Although these hard times might not apply to them, some part of the family might have been affected. I can't imagine anything worse than lying prone, covered with sores, and knowing that anyone who helped me would succumb to the disease too. I'd send them away and try to maintain inner peace. However, I'm not sure I'd have the same mindset during the times when swift death affected the weak. Between 1347 and 1351 the Great Pestilence swept westward across Europe killing millions of people. It later became known as the Black Death. When it arrived on Britain's shores, it wiped out up to 60% of the population. I wrote about rats on Friday, and how the fleas they carried spread the disease.

history-world.org

The World Health Organization tells us the plague is one of the oldest identifiable diseases known to man. Plague is spread from one rodent to another by fleas, and to humans either by the bite of infected fleas or when handling infected hosts. This is worrying. Recent outbreaks have shown that plague may reappear in areas that have long been free of the disease. Globally the infection kills 2,000 people a year, in countries like Madagascar. Antibiotics are available, but if untreated the disease kills within four days. So far, excavations from the £14.8bn Crossrail train link, due to open in 2018, have unearthed Roman skulls washed down a lost river, a Bronze-Age transport route, and the largest piece of amber ever found in the UK. All I can say is I'm glad to live right now in a caring society with access to medicines and not back then.

H i Francene, I have also taken a keen interest in this, primarily as my daughter is studying Forensic Archaeology at Uni at the moment, the thing I find quite shocking is that they say they have found 23 Skeletons but there could be up to 10,000 around the area, there is also a belief that a monestry was once built on the burial site to ward off evil spirits. Lets hope it worked :-)

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Francene Stanley:﻿Author﻿I use news items in my fantasy novels.

Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books on the sidebar below?I blogged 260 days last year. Link.